Over 30 years after publishing the first installment of I Spy, the beloved children’s puzzle book series created by author Jean Marzollo and photographer Walter Wick is back with a new, love-filled edition to be released ahead of the holiday season.
Per Scholastic Press, “love is in the air with this brand-new I Spy book,” which features whimsical, charming and heartwarming scenes filled with everything from a Cupid and his bow, wedding rings, a bride and groom, as well as plenty of heart-shaped objects.
Set to be released on Nov. 12, I Spy Love also includes a brand-new image snapped by Wick especially for this installment. PEOPLE has the first look at “Love Is in the Air,” which will have readers searching for “a peacock, two swans in love, four arrows, four bunnies a button” among other props and objects included in the scene.
Scholastic Press
The longtime photographer tells PEOPLE he collaborated with Dan and Dave Marzollo, the sons of Jean who took over writing the clever rhyming puzzles after the celebrated writer died at the age of 75 in 2018.
“Dan and Dave did some clever things [with Love],” Wick, 71, says about working with them on their first title in the series, referring to how they were able to capture the spirit of love through their clues, including one about stuffed animals — a bear and a sock monkey — hugging in another scene.
“It’s just the sweetest thing,” he adds. “That’s why it works.”
Scholastic Press
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While “Love Is in the Air” is the only original image made specifically for the Love edition, the rest of the scenes — taken from I Spy Christmas and other classic installments — were chosen because of how they relate to the overall theme.
Admittedly, Wick did some retouching on some of the older pictures “to add some objects that helped support the concept of love a little bit more.” He says he hopes the additions mean readers “feel like that when you’re reading the book, it lives up to the concept.”
“And it does — in the most unusual way,” he continues.
Walter Wick
Of course, for longtime fans (and readers) of the I Spy series, Love is just another way to revisit the childhood classic that has long captivated them since the first release in 1992. As Wick recalls to PEOPLE, Scholastic had an idea for a children’s puzzle book — but the “market was saturated by search-and-find books at the time,” largely because of the popularity of Where’s Waldo?
Luckily for the publishing company, Wick and Jean weren’t intimidated by the pressure of coming up with something new — ultimately combining the writer’s experience in education with the photographer’s background in puzzles for a nuanced and sophisticated take on the genre.
“It was this perfect marriage of two different talents coming together,” Wick says of the dynamic duo.
And to his credit, I Spy became a major hit, with over 75 million copies in print and various installments, including Christmas, School Days, Spooky Night and others. Prior to the release of Love, I Spy Christmas Treats, which features riddles written by Jean, was released on Sept. 3.
I Spy Love comes out from Scholastic Press on Nov. 12 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.
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